[Edge] Search scope window is opened in system browser instead of internal browser

[fedejeanne]

Describe the bug
Editing the scope of a search in the documentation opens up the new window in the system web browser (Firefox).

To Reproduce

• Start Eclipse
• Open the welcome page
• Open a topic e.g Workbench basics
• Click the scope (link)

Expected behavior
This window should be opened:

Actual behavior
The window opens in the system browser (in my case: Firefox)

Environment:

1. Select the platform(s) on which the behavior is seen:

• • All OS
• • Windows
• • Linux
• • macOS

Version since
4.35

Uncovered by

• Edge: Let WebView2 handle opening new windows by default eclipse.platform.swt#1846 (@sratz , @HeikoKlare )

Here's the full output of Git Bisect, in case someone is interested:

git bisect that led to #1846

$ git bisect start 9f602795596c64003ea7b8c83e0153e5657a84f2 e6588c2658d37ecc31b762bbc56fb29e0c924a52
Bisecting: 75 revisions left to test after this (roughly 6 steps)
[c493ae829c7bdb3fb8a1fed78619091f809a1d21] Callback for dynamic drawing with a GC on images
$ git bisect good
Bisecting: 37 revisions left to test after this (roughly 5 steps)
[f74615429af4df1199c79499abb1ed03d64de15c] [Linux] Fix random test failures of browser tests #1523
$ git bisect good
Bisecting: 18 revisions left to test after this (roughly 4 steps)
[0071da4c2f3b0e501b145739fe7127b58fe4119f] Reset Table::itemHeight on DPI change #62
$ git bisect good
Bisecting: 9 revisions left to test after this (roughly 3 steps)
[3e8da4aac55c6f9f2f0083f721bf830e21400013] Use ImageGcDrawer for bgimages in CTabFolder
$ git bisect good
Bisecting: 4 revisions left to test after this (roughly 2 steps)
[857ac0b2c4c7059e7957cd99e46a4501673cc67e] Shell Icon disappears on zoom change
$ git bisect good
Bisecting: 2 revisions left to test after this (roughly 1 step)
[7d718fe38becbda5cfdd4e5d2797ef6dae0f2069] SWT Javadoc bash for 4.35
$ git bisect good
Bisecting: 0 revisions left to test after this (roughly 1 step)
[b85d9d2ed5b7e5d0ef1620040d9f46b7b035959c] Fix Sash Layout Shaking in win32 #62
$ git bisect bad
Bisecting: 0 revisions left to test after this (roughly 0 steps)
[a63ba7515087f79509b552792c7231b7b669b03d] Edge: Let WebView2 handle opening new windows by default
$ git bisect bad
a63ba7515087f79509b552792c7231b7b669b03d is the first bad commit
commit a63ba7515087f79509b552792c7231b7b669b03d
Author: Sebastian Ratz <sebastian.ratz@sap.com>
Date:   Tue Feb 18 15:21:44 2025 +0100

    Edge: Let WebView2 handle opening new windows by default

    With Edge, just as IE did, supports opening new windows on its own,
    unlike the WebKit implementation on Linux/macOS.

    Therefore, to maximize compatibility with IE as the previous default,
    also let WebView2 handle opening new windows by default.

    Fixes #1845.

 .../Eclipse SWT Browser/win32/org/eclipse/swt/browser/Edge.java         | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Real issue
The workaround in EmbeddedBrowser doesn't work for Edge. The question is: did it ever?

[sratz]

I get the same behavior when I switch back to IE via -Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.DefaultType=ie.

So looks like this particular feature of the help has always been broken on Windows?

[sratz]

Oh wow, debugging changes this behavior since there is some timing condition:

eclipse.platform/ua/org.eclipse.help.ui/src/org/eclipse/help/ui/internal/browser/embedded/EmbeddedBrowser.java

Line 249 in 9e339b2

if (System.currentTimeMillis() - modalRequestTime <= 1000) {

That's some workaround in

eclipse.platform/ua/org.eclipse.help.ui/src/org/eclipse/help/ui/internal/browser/embedded/EmbeddedBrowser.java

Line 173 in 9e339b2

// hack to know when help webapp needs modal window

for apparently exactly that problem on Windows.

Somehow this workaround does not trigger for Edge.

Here's the problem:
Before opening the dialog, window.location is set to javascript://needModal:

eclipse.platform/ua/org.eclipse.help.webapp/advanced/searchScoped.jsp

Line 186 in 9e339b2

window.location="javascript://needModal";

function openAdvanced() 
{ 
        ...
	window.location="javascript://needModal";
	advancedDialog = window.open("workingSetManager.jsp?workingSet="+encodeURIComponent(workingSet), "advancedDialog", "resizable=yes,height="+h+",width="+w+",left="+l+",top="+t );
	...
}

Somehow this is not seen by Edge

[fedejeanne]

Than you for the pointer! I'm able to confirm that eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#1846 didn't cause the problem but merely uncovered it. I adapted the description of this issue.

I will go into the analysis and try to find the commit in which the workaround in EmbeddedBrowser stopped working for Edge (assuming it ever worked).

[sratz]

We should probably replace window.location="javascript://needModal"; with some other 'hint' that is more predictable, e.g. properly using a BrowserFunction calling into Java, or for example using a title event / listener.